


Fractures

by Relvetica



Category: Final Fantasy IV
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-13
Updated: 2013-05-13
Packaged: 2017-12-11 19:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/802457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Relvetica/pseuds/Relvetica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Do you think that being half Lunarian would, like, totally fuck up your bones? I am a normal human. I do not think about such inconsequential things.</p><p>But it totally would, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fractures

Cecil tapped at the thick, unevenly paned window with one knuckle, trying not to look too out of place outside the classroom door. The wrong girl turned around to look, but thankfully not the lecturer. He pointed to little to the girl's left, but she was already turning to tug at Rosa's sleeve. Rosa looked over her shoulder at the door; he couldn't see enough of her face to make out her expression, but he saw her eyebrow go up. He ducked away from the door as she stood to excuse herself.

She closed the door softly behind her a few moments later, and before she could ask he blurted out, "I think I broke a rib."

Rosa blinked at him hard. "A rib?"

Cecil had an arm pressed to his side; he gestured to it with his chin. "How did you break a rib?" Rosa asked.

He shrugged with one shoulder, and even that hurt. "I missed a parry."

"Why didn't you tell your instructor?"

"I didn't want to interrupt the lesson."

She rolled her eyes and took his free arm. "Come on."

She led him down the dark hallway to an empty lab and shut the door. He looked around awkwardly at the books and study materials scattered around the tables; it smelled strongly of medicinal alcohol and ether. "You really ought to see a doctor for that." She watched him with narrowed eyes as he followed her with a pronounced wince, and she added, "Take off your shirt."

He hesitated. "Is that necessary?"

"I want to see what you've done to yourself." She gestured impatiently. "Come on, before somebody comes by."

Cecil sighed and tried to pull his tunic off over his head with the arm on his good side; he managed it, but he was far from graceful about it. She was smiling a little when he finally managed to disentangle himself, and he huffed a little. "I can't move very well like this," he said.

"That's all right." She laid a hand on his shoulder; her fingers was cool against his skin. "Here, face that wall."

He did so, and she knelt beside him to put her face at the level of his injury. There was a human skeleton on display in that direction, he was uneasy to see, heavily labeled and diagrammed with little symbols and words he didn't know. Its ribs were all intact, if held together with copper wire and screws. It grinned like it was seeing something hilarious play out in front of it. "Well?" he asked.

Her hand ghosted over his side, and he swallowed as gooseflesh sprang up on his skin. "He must have hit you pretty hard," she said.

"I guess."

She sighed. "They're going to pull you out if you keep breaking bones like this. It's like there's something wrong with them."

"There's nothing wrong with them. I just have bad luck." He didn't add that he'd come to her with the intent of keeping this particular injury a secret; it was true that he had a history of breaks and fractures that didn't look good in writing as it was, and he didn't want to make the list longer. His sparring partner had not, in fact, hit him very hard. By the time he made it into the corps, he'd be wearing armor anyway, so what did it matter? The last thing he needed was everyone thinking he had some kind of disease.

Rosa pressed her palm against the bone, and he gasped a little. "It's cracked," she said. "I can fix it."

"Please," he said.

Mending a bone is complicated. He knew from long experience that she was right about him needing a doctor. He hissed as her hand became much warmer and the fracture began to knit itself whole; an experienced healer could mask the pain, but a student like Rosa didn't know the tricks to that part yet. He bit back on a groan, and her fingers spread out along his side. It was over in less than a minute, but it felt like an hour.

"Good as new," she declared. She patted his side and smiled up at him. He raised his arms experimentally and smiled back.

"Thank you," he said. "I owe you for this."

"Not at all," Rosa said. She leaned in and pressed a warm kiss against the newly whole bone; he blinked at her hard. She stood, picking up his shirt and she did so and tossed it towards his face. "I have to get back to class. See you later."

By the time he had the shirt pulled down over his head and chest, she was gone. He swallowed.


End file.
